Clara M. Casian is a Romanian visual artist, based in Manchester, with an interest in archives and reconstructing histories. Her practice encompasses film, drawing and collaboration, working with a variety of media including performance, moving image, sound and light. Her project on alternative publishing and censorship via the history of Savoy Books was developed as part of Feature Expanded. Casian’s recent projects include the live performance film Birdsong – Stories from Pripyat with composer Robin Richards (Dutch Uncles), House on the Borderland, shown as part of LA MOVIDA 14th Apr – 17 Jul 2017, HOME Manchester and Intentional Communities, in collaboration with visual artist Nick Jordan.

I am fascinated to be a part of Extreme Views Team, to research the history of Barrow, and to create a series of filmic responses about natural and man-made sites. I am particularly interested to bring out the natural richness of Barrow and to explore how these two worlds collide. I will be looking to observe this tension between the present and the past and scenes of derelict areas of war bunkers, skeleton boat wrecks, slag banks mixed with coastal landscapes through the stories collected from the community. My residency in this project, the access to the rich resources, the immersion into the history of the Barrow area, will help further my interests in archives, memory, filtered through personal and poetic lens.